Harford County Public Schools are urging parents to sign up to use its just launched Blackboard Connect Parent Portal Website for school communications. Here are the details:

Harford County Public Schools launches parent portal feature of its automated phone system

Harford County Public Schools (HCPS) is pleased to announce the recent launch of its Blackboard Connect Parent Portal Website to maximize communication with parents. This new tool is a feature of the Connect 5 automated phone system and enables parents and guardians to manage their contact information and preferences for communications from both their child’s school and the district right from their own computers.

With the launch of the Parent Portal Website, parents can establish an account and customize their message delivery preferences, including providing additional contact numbers and email addresses and opting in for text messages. Parents create their account with an active email address and their child’s Student ID number. Siblings can be linked together on one account.

To sign up for an account, parents should visit the HCPS website (www.hcps.org) and click the Blackboard Connect Parent Portal button located in the top right-hand corner of the homepage. Once redirected to the Parent Portal homepage, click ‘Sign Me Up!’ to create an account. (See images below.)

With inclement weather season fast approaching, parents are encouraged to visit the portal to register their account and set their preferences as soon as possible.

“The addition of this feature to our rapid phone notification system allows us to reach our parents in an even more effective and convenient manner,” said Superintendent of Schools Robert M. Tomback, Ph.D. “Communication remains a top priority for our system, and we strive to use multiple resources to provide timely messages to parents.”

Parents can also view a history of all the messages sent and can view any past email, text or voice message script that they may have missed, once they are logged in to their account.

In addition to the Connect 5 phone/email system, HCPS continues to communicate announcements, upcoming events, reminders and emergency information through the school system website (www.hcps.org), individual school websites and Edline pages, traditional school newsletters and publications, live-streaming Board meetings on the website, Facebook (www.facebook.com/HCPSchools) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/HCPSchools).